{"id":1114,"date":"2005-07-27T02:31:08","date_gmt":"2005-07-26T17:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2013-03-23T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T00:22:17","slug":"pikapika-dorodoro-barabara-buriburi-punpun-wanwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/archives\/2005\/07\/27\/pikapika-dorodoro-barabara-buriburi-punpun-wanwan\/","title":{"rendered":"Pikapika Dorodoro Barabara Buriburi Punpun Wanwan…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u64ec\u97f3\u8a9e<\/abbr> are the Japanese version of Western onomatopeia. They are often used in comics, to add intensity to a scene, describe a noise or even a texture (though technically these would be \u64ec\u614b\u8a9e<\/abbr>, and not onomatopoeia). But they have a much wider use, often replacing bona fide<\/em> words or full sentences, in everyday conversations. They nearly all follow the same specific pattern: a group of two syllables repeated twice (pika-pika, pera-pera etc)… which makes them very easy to spot and remember… Using them in your daily conversation will simultaneously propel you to the ranks of l33t native speakers, and make you sound like one of these 13 year-old Japanese schoolgirl with 5 pounds of plushies dangling from her keitai.<\/p>\n

I have compiled below a short list of all those I could remember, off the top of my head, along with a few friends’ contributions. I have made arbitrary use of katakana and hiragana, more or less dictated by what I’ve seen more often in writing. Rule of thumb is that most of these can be found in either form, depending on the mood of the author and the type of material it is used with. Mouse-over the kanas to get the romaji pronunciation….<\/p>\n

The ubiquitous<\/strong> (all the time, provided you ever watch TV or speak to a Japanese teenager):<\/p>\n